Pioneering therapy based in neuroscience has been launched to help overcome ‘social media addiction’.
For most people, scrolling through their social media posts is fine and a perfectly normal way to pass time with no ill effects.
But for some however social media has become a wholly different situation where they’re glued to their phones and feel high levels of anxiety if they don’t check it regularly.
It’s estimated that over 210 million people worldwide suffer from what has been called ‘social media addiction’ and this is predicted to rise.
Although it’s not a medically recognised diagnosis, it can have serious repercussions on a person’s mental health resulting in them spending so much time on these platforms that it impacts other aspects of their life triggering anxiety and depression.
Reducing screen time is a great way to combat problematic social media use; however, if the addiction is too severe you may require professional help.
That’s why The Terence Watts BWRT Institute has created the new Social Media Addiction therapy based on their ground-breaking BrainWorking Recursive Therapy (BWRT) that is used worldwide to treat a range of psychological conditions.
BWRT® was created in 2011 by Essex-based Terence Watts, a psychotherapist and Fellow with the Royal Society of Medicine and is based in neuroscience.
It works by ‘freezing’ unwanted patterns and behaviour, in this case the need to check social media, and creating new neural pathways with a more positive response which is chosen by the individual.
Because it gets at the root of the problem, BWRT works faster and there is less likelihood of relapse which often happens with other therapies.
BWRT is currently used by 2,500+ psychologists and therapists worldwide to treat a range of conditions such as anxiety, grief, phobias, fears, depression, trauma, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and now social media addiction.
Terence Watts, founder of The BWRT Institute says, “The great thing about this programme is that it doesn’t take a ‘cold turkey’ approach, nor does it try to stop anybody going on social media. It just makes it less attractive so people can comfortably get on with other things in their life.”
How do you know if you’re addicted?
A mental health professional can help diagnose the condition, but signs include:
• First thing you do in the morning is check your social media
• Feeling anxious if you don’t check your status every few minutes
• Constantly checking the status of posts for the number of ‘likes’
• Spend a lot of time overthinking your posts before, during and after you’ve posted
• Neglecting other parts of your life in favour of scrolling
If you believe that you or a member of your family is addicted, you can seek help from a professional therapist trained in the new Social Media Addiction therapy by visiting www.bwrt-professionals.com
If you are therapist interested in training in BWRT, visit https://www.bwrt.org/products/sm-addiction to register for the next available course.
